Bush's Education Plan Moving Again -- but Not Quickly
House, Senate Differences May Deny President His Goal of Passing the Bill by Early Next Month
By Helen Dewar
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 23, 2001; Page A02
President Bush's plan to improve America's schools is moving again on Capitol Hill but not fast enough to provide a swift mid-summer boost to the rest of the administration's legislative agenda.
The education bill, which would hold schools accountable for students' learning and use federal aid as leverage to force improvements, got off to a fast start but slowed as the Senate and House adopted bills that differed on critical points, such as funding and methods for measuring school performance.
As House and Senate negotiators gathered Thursday to begin resolving their differences, they predicted the legislation will pass, but not soon enough to satisfy the president's hope for final approval by early next month.
"I have no doubt we will come to agreement on this bill sometime in the next month or so," but probably not before Congress reconvenes in September, said Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), chairman of the House-Senate conference. Differences are "manageable" but important and may take some time to resolve, said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), chief Senate negotiator.
During a Rose Garden ceremony two weeks ago, Bush asked Congress to send him the education bill before it recesses for a month, starting Aug. 6, and to act soon on his proposals to help religious charities and to protect patients in managed care systems.
Last week, presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush still wants the education bill on his desk before the recess. "It's the president's top priority . . . and the president believes there is no reason to delay," McClellan said.
But it now appears that Bush, who has not had a major victory in Congress since it passed his big tax cut in late May, could be disappointed on all the issues he mentioned in the Rose Garden this month.
In addition to missing his target date for the education bill, Bush faces a possible rebuff on patients' rights. The Senate approved a bipartisan bill that gives aggrieved patients a broader right to sue than he wants, and the outcome in the House is in doubt.
The House has approved a scaled-back version of Bush's plan to direct more federal funding to social services run by religious groups, but opposition is strong in the Senate, which may not take up the measure before next year. Bush's high-priority energy and missile defense proposals also face resistance, and the tax cut is making it hard for the president to find money for his defense initiatives as well as education.
The education bill is important for other legislation because it could revive a sense of momentum for Bush in Congress while showing voters he can deliver on a popular issue. To get the education bill now "would be a real shot in the arm," said a senior GOP aide in the Senate.
Democrats are also pushing for early approval because they see the bipartisan cooperation that helped produce the education bill as a model for other legislation, in contrast with the GOP's go-it-alone strategy on the tax cut. "I'm hopeful if we're successful here, he [Bush] will be every bit as aggressive in pursuing this model in other contexts," said Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.).
The bill, the result of months of negotiations between the White House and Democrats such as Kennedy and Rep. George Miller (Calif.), would require annual testing of students in reading and mathematics and demonstrated progress by schools in closing achievement gaps. Federal aid would be increased to help lagging schools, but sanctions, including loss of aid, would be imposed if those efforts fail.
Bush dropped his proposal for vouchers to pay for private education for students in chronically failing schools as it became clear it would not pass. But more money would be pumped into programs to help disadvantaged children, and children in failing schools could get federal help for private tutoring and for transportation to other public schools.
In different ways, both bills try to give local school authorities more flexibility in how they spend federal funds, which account for about 7 percent of public education resources.
Both bills allocate $1 billion annually for five years to improve reading, with the goal of having all children able to read by the third grade, and put new emphasis on improving the quality of teaching.
Although many of the provisions are similar, there are important differences in key areas, some of which -- such as how to measure a school's performance -- have turned out to be extraordinarily complex.
The most obvious difference is cost, including major increases in funding for disadvantaged and disabled children that were approved, along with an array of new programs, by the Senate. Bush would raise education spending from $18.5 billion to more than $20 billion next year. The House would spend $23 billion. The Senate, according to Kennedy, would raise the figure to $41.8 billion. Figures are subject to appropriations bills that will be passed later in the year, but the education bill will set important benchmarks.
In another major difference, the House and Senate use different approaches for measuring whether schools are making sufficient progress in improving student achievement. The House bill is stricter in requiring progress by all groups of students, including minority and disadvantaged children, but critics say it sets the overall bar for progress so high that too many schools would fail.
The two bills also differ on how to give local school officials more flexibility in spending money. The House would allow school districts to use as much of their federal funds as they choose, while the Senate would set up a pilot project under which a limited number of states and school districts could waive federal rules if they meet higher standards.
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